Getting better with blogging Emily Saavedra Unitec New Zealand CALL Conference, Beijing, China June 2006

In this session I will … … look at what a blog is. … give you a bit of background to our research. … discuss how our students feel about blogs and how they use them. … expound the benefits of blogging.

Picture / example of blog …..

A blog is… online journal/diary ‘need to write’ critical reflection ‘platforms of intelligent reaction to current events’ Duber (2002) VOICE links experience thoughts feelings English teacher autonomy authentic interaction reflection writing

How do we, as teachers, view blogs? easy in to a website motivating authentic autonomous tool interesting innovative time consuming “lack of control” technologically challenging access extra work

Questions How do blogs support students in their language learning? How do students view blogs? How do students use blogs? How do students demonstrate an awareness of audience when blogging?

Literature about Blogs Barrios, B. (2003). The year of the Weblog, from Campbell, A. P. (2003). Weblogs for use with ESL classes. The Internet TESL Journal, IX(2). d'Eca, T. A. (2005). Have Fun with English: A blog or a plog? Paper presented at the APPI Conference, Lisbon. Dieu, B. Blogs for language learning. Essential Teacher. Duber, J. (2002). Mad Blogs and English. TESL-EJ, 6(2). Farmer, J. (2003). Incorporated Subversion, from Get your blog on(line). (2005, Jan 8). NZ Listener, 22. Johnson, A. (2004). Creating a writing course utilizing class and student blogs. The Internet TESL Journal, X(8). Kennedy, K. (2003). Writing with Weblogs. Technology and Learning. Richardson, W. (2004). Blogging and RSS — The "What's It?" and "How To" of Powerful New Web Tools for Educators. Multimedia & Schools, 11(1). Stanley, G. (2005). Blogging for ELT, from Suzuki, R. (2004). Diaries as introspective research tools: From Ashton-Warner to Blogs. TESL-EJ, 8(1). Vallance, M. (2004). Blogging. Modern English Teacher, 13(2). Ward, J. (2004). Blog Assisted Language Learning (BALL): Push button publishing for the pupils. TEFL Web Journal, 3(1). Wrede, O. (2003). Weblogs as a transformational technology for higher education and academic research. Paper presented at the Blogtalk Conference Paper, Vienna.  new  not much research  descriptive How to… What I did… Tips  mainstream

Meet the bloggers …

Previous experience with blogs n = 113 Before this term I knew what a blog was Yes6053% No5347% I have written a blog before in my first language Yes3834% No7566% I have written a blog before in English Yes2320% No9080%

“Self-publishing encourages ownership and responsibility on the part of students, who may be more thoughtful … if they know they are writing for a real audience.” Godwin-Jones, 2003, p14

Audience Sense of community … Considerably easy for people who borrows my blogger to know about me. Sometimes we can’t understand what we speak, so we need to read blogs to know each other.

Audience Share experiences … The good thing about my blog is to give smile to my friends because there are some stories about me. … that other students can share my idea and give me some advices.

Audience Need for communication and ongoing dialogue … We can converse with other people without actually meeting. Hello, glad to meet you. What’s up? In future I can show my son or my grandchildren my experience

this is my first time express myself in English I would use my blog more if I want to say something and hope more and more people to know my feeling.

Online personae CONTEXT –The experimenter –The online extrovert –The returnee LANGUAGE –The bilinguist –The language student –The deserter –The diarist LEARNING –The reflector –The poet –The shy student –The minimalist

LEARNING –The reflector –The poet –The shy student –The minimalist LANGUAGE –The bilinguist –The language student –The deserter –The diarist CONTEXT –The experimenter –The online extrovert –The returnee

Preliminary findings Our students’ reactions in general (from questionnaire and focus group interviews) 1.Little previous experience. 2.Students liked it. 3.Believed blogging improved their English. 4.Teacher directed. 5.Time an issue.

Further findings Students are conscious of an audience Students embrace blogs as a tool to communicate with peers Students welcome the opportunity to express themselves As teachers, we need to initiate and support students in this environment.

Blog of my experience with blogs